


Home and I Know (I Am the One in Love)

by thisgirlsays22



Series: Home [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Anal Sex, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bottom Eren Yeager, Canon Compliant, Canon Era, Ereri Writing Prompts, Face-Fucking, M/M, Manga Spoilers, Pining, Post-Canon, Top Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), canonverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-03
Updated: 2018-02-03
Packaged: 2019-03-13 02:00:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13560288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisgirlsays22/pseuds/thisgirlsays22
Summary: An unexpected visit from Levi forces Eren to confront his reasons for leaving home.





	Home and I Know (I Am the One in Love)

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [Ereri-Writing-Prompts](https://ereri-writing-prompts.tumblr.com/post/169180703237/prompt-1-hiraeth)
> 
> "Hiraeth: A homesickness for a home to which you cannot return, a home which maybe never was."

Eren let the axe fall from his hand, and he wiped the sweat from his brow, arms tired from chopping logs all afternoon. The cabin was too cold to go without a fire. He breathed in deep; the smell of pine trees and the feel of crisp, clean air soothed his weary soul.

He gathered the logs and carried them into his small home, shucking off his shoes in favor of the wool slippers waiting for him beside the door. Night was falling, and he was glad dinner would be simple tonight; he still had some of the canned goods from Armin’s last visit, which he only needed to warm on the stove.

After six months, Eren had fallen into a comfortable routine. During the day he foraged, hunted, and took care of the cabin and surrounding property. In the evenings, he’d have his dinner, boil water for a cup of tea, and then he’d sit in front of the fire to write his letters. He’d brought parchment and pen along with him, at his friends’ insistence.

 _I’ll be home soon,_ he wrote to Mikasa that night. He couldn’t quantify soon, but the loneliness would get to him eventually. _I miss you,_ he added.

Already he knew what her response would be: _So come home then, idiot._

Maybe he would wait for the first crocuses to bloom or for the first starling to sing, to take it as a sign he was ready to go home. But he’d played this game before - when summer had ended, when the nights began to grow longer, when the first snow had fallen - and still he was here. It seemed unlikely that he’d return home any better off than when he’d left.

Someone checked in on him every few weeks, and it was Jean’s turn this time. He would be here tomorrow to retrieve the letters and bring more supplies. Eren could have fended for himself just fine, but his family wouldn’t listen.

“I think you’re a lonely idiot,” Jean had told him the last time he came. “At least you’re not a suicidal one anymore...I don’t think.”

Eren grumbled, “I wasn’t suicidal then, and I’m not now.”

The problem was Eren wasn’t much of anything now. He’d been a soldier, and then he wasn’t. He’d been a Titan, and then he wasn’t--which he was grateful for, of course, but unsettled too.

While he floundered, his friends managed to find a place for themselves. Mikasa trained new recruits and wrote poetry in her free time, Armin advised Historia, Jean was an ambassador, cultivating delicate relations between Paradis and Marley. Eren left home and came here.

There hadn’t been anything keeping him there, not really.

 

 

 

Eren filled a basin full of water from the lake and washed the sheets. He always let his guest sleep in the bed while he took the sleeping bag on the floor. After he swept the floors and cleaned the windows, he set about putting on a pot of rabbit stew. The cabin was warming up and smelled thickly of roasted vegetable and meat when there was a knock at the door.    

“Oh.” Eren blinked at Levi. “You’re not Jean.”

“Nothing gets past you,” Levi said, voice flat. “Are you going to let me in?”

Eren stepped aside, eying Levi warily. “It’s been awhile,” he said.

It had been almost a year now, but Levi looked much the same. The lines under his eyes a bit deeper, a few more grey strands in his hair, but it seemed like his new station hadn’t left him too worse for wear.

“Yeah.” Levi dropped his bag next to the door, surveying the modest cabin. There were no separate rooms except for a small, connected outhouse. Levi gave a curt, satisfied nod and said, “The place looks like a shithole outside, but it’s not as bad as I expected in here.”

It was in decent enough shape now that Eren had fixed it up, but one of the windows still had a worrying crack through the center and there were still parts of the walls that needed to be replaced where the wood had warped. Eren was proud he kept everything inside tidy, and despite himself he was pleased at Levi’s approval. Habit, he assured himself, it’s habit.

“I thought you were still in Marley,” Eren said.  

Levi was making his way around the cabin, swiping a finger at the kitchen counter to check for dust. “I’ve been back for a couple weeks now. On leave.”

Instinctively, Eren went to boil some water. Levi seemed on edge, and Eren was uneasy too. He hoped a cup of tea might relax them both.  

“So what the fuck are you doing out here?” Levi asked abruptly. “When I left you were still living in that shack outside of Shiganshina.”  

“It wasn’t a shack,” Eren defended. “It just needed some love.”

Levi snorted. “You were taking your time with that.”

“I was getting to it.”

“Hm.”

“So what the fuck are _you_ doing here? I take it you didn’t come to criticise my home.”

“Your home,” Levi echoed. Then he said, “Mikasa asked me to come.”

“Why? Was everyone else busy?”

He shrugged. “I take it I’m supposed to convince you to come back with me. To your real home.” Levi’s voice was flat, and it was hard to tell if he was teasing Eren or not. He used to be able to tell. He’d had a handle on Levi’s nuances at one point, but that felt like a long time ago now.

“That’s not my--” he waved a hand and scowled. “I’ll go back when I’m good and ready.”

Levi’s expression remained inscrutable when he said, “Alright.”  

 

 

 

When they were done sipping their tea in tense silence and had eaten lunch, Eren decided it was time to get on with the day. Just because it was Levi in place of Jean didn’t mean his plans had to be compromised. He rummaged around in one of the drawers. “Here. I have an extra pair of gloves.”

Levi took the gloves and quirked an eyebrow at Eren.

“We’re going foraging,” he explained, grabbing his cloak off the hook and throwing it over his shoulders. “There are chestnut trees about a twenty minute walk from here. Grab the basket over there?”

For half the walk they were silent aside from the sound of their boots crunching stray branches and patches of still-frozen dirt. Nostalgia hit Eren, blown in with the bitter breeze. With peace had brought the opportunity for weekends spent hiking, returning with their bounty of wild mushrooms, nuts, and berries--even game if Sasha was with them. Though Eren’s longing had always been a shadow at their side, it had been easier between them then. Now they struggled to even start a conversation.

From the corner of his eye, he could see Levi watching him. A flock of geese flew by overhead, and Eren pretended to be fixated on them, a slight blush creeping onto his cheeks at the attention.   

Levi followed Eren’s gaze, and they watched as the birds flew by, their honking fading slowly as they moved on and away. They had the right idea. Once he’d known what it felt like to fly, but even if tomorrow he was handed a new set of gear, he would have no idea where to go next.

Quiet settled over them again once the birds had disappeared into the distance. The deep, gentle timbre of Levi’s voice broke the silence. “You’ve been out here six months.”

“Yeah.” Something small inside him still wanted Levi to understand this choice like he had so many times before. It didn’t matter if Levi approved, only that he understood. “I found the cabin before that, though. It was obvious it had been abandoned, so, I don’t know. Once I had it in good shape, I moved in.”

“Tch. That back there is what you call good shape? You quit the Corps to prove a point, and you half-assed it.”

The sound of his boot snapping a twig was like the clinking of a glass before a toast as Eren stopped and faced Levi, temper flaring. “I wasn’t making any point.”

“Could have fooled me.” He said it like a challenge. Voice quiet but with an edge.  

The stillness was too much. His frustration made him restless, so Eren began moving again. He used to love when Levi guided him to an answer in his particular way. But Eren wasn’t a kid anymore. _Come out with it, Levi_. He grit his teeth, and kept his eyes straight ahead. “Okay. What point am I making then? Tell me.”

The answer came from just behind Eren. “That you’re better off alone.”

Levi had grazed the truth. Part of the story was missing, though. The part where his friend had left without a second thought or a glance behind him. The part where he’d realised that not only were his romantic feelings unreciprocated--he’d come to terms with that years ago, when Levi had kindly but firmly turned him down--but his platonic ones too. How the loneliness had been unbearable, and he could feel the dark tendrils of his misery touching everyone around him.  

They had reached the chestnut trees now, the late afternoon sun filtering through the leaves. Eren bent down to fill the basket with the fallen nuts, gloves protecting his hands from the barbs. Levi didn’t press Eren for a response as they worked in tandem.

On the walk back, Eren stopped to gather fallen pine cones. If you added them to the fire, it made the cabin smell wonderful. It didn’t matter how prickly he felt. He still wanted Levi to enjoy his stay. Their time together. The place may not have been a permanent home, but Eren did take pride in the way he cared for it, despite what Levi said about the state of repairs.

“Did you think you’d be better off without us when you left?” Eren asked.

Levi didn’t seem surprised or put out by the question. His reply was measured as though he’d already given this thought. “It was different. I’d never considered what life after the war would be like because I never thought I’d survive. I asked people sometimes, Erwin, Hanji. No one could ever give me an answer because none of us could imagine. I needed a purpose.”

“I needed a purpose too,” Eren said. “It seemed so easy for everyone else. You were the only other one who...it wasn’t simple for.”  Levi had taken a lot of things with him when he left, including the knowledge, the comfort, that Eren wasn’t the only one who was lost.

“Unless it’s to steal chestnuts from squirrels, I don’t know what purpose you’re going to find out here.”

Eren huffed out a laugh in spite of himself, breath fogging the air in front of him.

Finding the right words was a struggle. _I was so lonely and lost, and when you left I couldn’t run from it anymore. It’s not your fault, but it’s the truth._ But of course he couldn’t say any of that. “It’s not that I think I’m better off without them.”

Levi’s frowned, skeptical. “No?”

“They’re better off without me,” Eren clarified. Misery had been his disease. At least here, everyone was safer, maybe even Eren too in a way. If your heart broke in a forest and there was no one there to hear it, did it really break at all?

When he was met with silence, Eren turned to look at Levi. He had a peculiar expression on his face, mouth twisted. “Eren--”

“Come on, we want to get back before dark. We’re losing daylight,” Eren said, turning away again. He didn’t want to hear any empty protests or arguments or answer more questions. Levi had been gone a long time; he didn’t understand.

 

 

 

Back at the cabin, Levi prepared them another round of tea and told Eren stories about Marley, asked him about the time between both of their departures from Shiganshina. Uneasiness still dogged Eren, but he was grateful that Levi had guided them to safer territory.

By the time they began preparing the chestnuts for roasting, most of the tension had gone out of Eren’s shoulders. He was warmed by the fire, the tea and Levi’s monologue about the overpriced tea in Marley. “It’s bullshit,” he said. “They slap a fancy label on and charge triple what they should for the quality.”

Eren laughed as Levi shook his head disdainfully, then said, “Hand me some more, I’m almost done with mine.”       

“You’re the one who taught me how to do this.” Eren said as he passed the basket to Levi, wondering if he remembered. The first winter after the war. That sad nostalgia washed over him again.

Levi nodded. “And I thought I taught you better. Your knife isn’t even sharpened.”

“It doesn’t need to be that sharp for this,” Eren protested.

Levi shook his head, and held up one of the knives to demonstrate his point. “You’re not taking care of any of them properly. I told you before, it’s more dangerous when the blades are dull. Retirement’s made you sloppy.”

Part of Eren was fond of the fact that Levi still showed his affection in his odd way, and part of Eren was tired of Levi’s chiding.

The irritated part won out: Eren rolled his eyes and launched a shelled chestnut at Levi. He dodged it with a graceful tilt of his head, then laughed.

“You’re not supposed to laugh!” Eren said without any bite. When Levi smiled, Eren was rendered powerless.

“No? What am I supposed to do then?”

“Throw one back?” Eren suggested. “Or are you afraid?”

Levi snorted. He rolled his eyes but couldn’t hide his amusement.    

“Why do you look so happy?”

Eren had meant it as a joke, an escalation to his teasing, but Levi looked thoughtful as he went back to methodically carving up his pile of chestnuts with his own perfectly sharpened pocket knife. “I like when you don’t try to please me.”

That wasn’t the answer Eren had been expecting. It was delivered in such a sincere tone that Eren felt his heart flutter, but he was also suspicious of the implication. Of course when he was young he’d tried to please and impress Levi-- _Captain_ Levi. Did Levi mean that even after all these years he still thought Eren was trying too hard to please him?

Eren furrowed his brow. “What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said.”

Well that didn’t answer anything at all. Eren finished carving an ‘x’ into the last of the chestnuts and snuck a look at Levi who was trying to hide a smile, bangs falling in front of his eyes as he angled his head away.

Just a glimpse of Levi’s smile was all it took to make Eren’s heart swell.

Frustrated with himself and confused, he tossed his chestnut into the pile with the other finished ones, wishing Levi had thrown one back at him. Tenderness wasn’t something Eren could hide behind like playful irritation over Levi’s lecture. Life before Levi had left hadn’t been perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but better for moments like these where he’d caught Levi smiling.

 _Why had Levi left?_ He couldn’t shake the thought once it had entered his mind or the sadness it carried with it.

 

 

 

That night they sat before the fire, shielded from the chill of the night, bellies full of the roasted chestnuts and the leftover stew. The pine cones had the intended effect, and the cabin smelled sweet and inviting. Levi was sipping his tea, flicking through a paperback he’d brought with him. The question of why Levi had left continued to bubble and simmer inside Eren, though he tried to ignore it.

Mikasa’s book of poetry was open but forgotten in Eren’s hands. He’d read the poems so many times he could recite them all by heart. _Do you see the same stars I see?_ The line was the one he circled back to most often, the page dog-eared and worn. When Levi had first left for Marley it used to play through Eren’s head each night.

If he walked outside and looked up, would his sister be looking too? He missed her with a ferociousness that hurt his chest, wondering if she understood the reasons he’d needed to leave, wishing he could talk to her now.

He put the book down next to him and stood to gather his socks, shoes and cloak.

Levi put his book down too and followed suit wordlessly, trailing Eren outside.

Eren didn’t go very far. He stood in front of the cabin, looking up through the trees where the inky sky peeked through. There was no question now that they were seeing the same stars in the sky, but Eren felt as though Levi was still back in Marley. As though he were only looking at a ghost. Soon, Levi would disappear again, and Eren might never have another chance to understand why he’d left in the first place.

“Are you happy here, Eren?” Levi asked, gaze as cool as the air.

Eren wondered how long he’d been waiting to ask that. If that’s what he’d was trying to build up to this afternoon. “I don’t know. Some of the time.”

“You could go back to Shiganshina. Mikasa misses you.”

Was that why Levi had come? It wouldn’t be very fair of Mikasa to use Levi against him. “I don’t belong there anymore,” Eren said. Strength left him at the admission, leaving only exhaustion in its wake.   

Shiganshina wasn’t the place he remembered, wasn’t the place he needed. Even as they watched the walls come down, it did nothing to change his detachment. When he tried moving outside the walls, to a small cottage near one of the Corp’s bases, it hadn’t felt right either, an ill-fitting shirt.

“Being here is the least lonely I’ve felt in a long time,” Eren admitted. It was what he’d wanted to explain to Levi earlier. This was why it was better for everyone, including himself.

“I know what you mean.” There was a sadness in his eyes that Eren didn’t understand.

“Is that how you feel in Marley then?” Eren asked dully. The wound wasn’t fresh but he knew how easily it could be reopened. The exhaustion seeped into every bone; it was impossible to shove away the gut-wrenching thought: Levi had been lonely even when he was with Eren.

“Yes. Some of the time.”

Something dark, ugly, and mean curled in Eren’s chest. It wasn’t like him, it didn’t belong there, but he couldn’t exorcise it in time. During this time away, he’d tried, without success, to run from it.

Levi’s face was drawn, eyes tired, as though he knew what was coming.

“Why did you take the job?” Why did you leave? His voice was sharp, a shot ringing out in the icy stillness of the night. He swallowed, trying to keep his gaze steady, to hold back the embarrassing tears that threatened to spill.  

Levi held his eyes. “There was no reason not to.”

Hearing the words aloud stung, though it was what he’d expected. “Apparently not.”

“Am I wrong?” Levi asked.

Eren clenched his fists. How could Levi be so...so oblivious? So callous? Eren wasn’t going to spell it out for him again if it had meant so little to him in the first place. He said, “You’d know better than me if there was a reason.”

Levi crossed his arms. “If you’d asked me to stay, I would have.”

“What?”

“You didn’t seem to mind when I accepted the offer. If I recall, you wished me luck and told me there would always be a place for me to stay when I visited. When I came back, you were gone.”  

“It was an awfully long time until you visited.”

“None of your letters asked me to,” Levi said softly. He looked tired too, face drawn and paler from the cold.

Eren rubbed his hands over his face, trying to parse the conversation. No. This didn’t make any sense. Had Levi wanted to be asked to stay? To visit?

Eren’s hands fell from his face. “Why would you have stayed for me?”

“The way I feel about you should be obvious by now.”

Obvious! “You were the one who turned me down,” he bit out. And they’d never once spoken a word of it in all the following years.  

“You were sixteen,” Levi said, crossing his arms. He could have had the decency to sound apologetic.

“So what? If you loved me, it shouldn’t have mattered.”

“I didn’t love you then.”  

 _Then._ Eren’s heart raced as he stared at Levi, his eyes wide and unblinking. Scared he might miss the barest hint of emotion flicker across Levi’s face. “And now?”

“Of course I do now.” There was a challenge in Levi’s eyes. “But I didn’t think it was what you wanted anymore. Feelings change.”

His never had. The few relationships he’d attempted had failed because his heart had never been in them. “You could have asked, Levi.”

“I could have,” he agreed. “But I didn’t.”

“Why?”

Eren stiffened as Levi moved towards him. “You’re angry with me because you think for years I’ve just sat idly by while you--while we--suffered,” he surmised.

“That’s exactly what you did,” Eren said hotly. “And now you show up here and imply it’s my fault for not asking you to stay.”

“Do you really think I would do that to you?”

“I--” Eren gaped at Levi. He had the strangest feeling that he’d travelled back in time. Levi had the same shuttered, guarded look on his face that he’d had the night Eren told him he loved him. “You didn’t think I wanted you anymore.” The realisation was incomprehensible. Nothing had ever stopped him from loving Levi. It had become a chronic pain Eren learned to live with. Their friendship hadn’t been worth losing over it.  

Levi shook his head. When Eren merely looked at him in stunned silence, he cleared his throat and said, “No. And I think you’re a fucking idiot for wanting me in the first place. But when Mikasa told me you’d come here after I left, I thought maybe...”

The anger and exhaustion were evaporating. Eren could almost feel them steaming off his skin into the chill of the night. He ran a hand through his hair, at a loss for words. “I don’t--are you--”

“Shut up, Eren,” Levi said, expression soft now. The corner of his mouth tilting up into a smile.  

Eren took a few hesitant steps towards Levi. Fear was still holding him back. It couldn’t be true, not after all these years.

Then Levi met him the rest of the way, and Eren placed his hands on each side of his face, thumbs pressed against his cheekbones. He’d never prided himself on being particularly clever, but he’d never expected to feel like such an idiot either.

Calm, grey eyes appraised Eren. His hands wrapped loosely around Eren’s wrists. “This is still what you want?”  

“It always has been,” Eren said, breathless.   

Levi pulled him forward until their lips met in a hungry, urgent kiss. He pushed Eren back against the door of the cabin, crowding him until their bodies were pressed together, hands clawing at each other’s cloaks.  

It was with great reluctance and resolve that Eren broke the kiss to open the door and pull them both inside.  

Their clothes ended up in a trail from the doorway to the bed. Levi pushed Eren onto his back and crawled on top of him, pressing hot, open-mouthed kisses all over his body before returning to his lips again. The attention was dizzying, beyond any of his wildest dreams.     

Eren broke the kiss to suck bruises into Levi’s neck, amazed when he received quiet moans in response and, “Oh, Eren, _yes.”_

Between Levi’s moans and the marks he’d left behind on his skin, Eren was impossibly hard. They were rutting against each other like two trainees, and it wasn’t enough. Levi’s hand--strong, firm, and sure--reached down to stroke their cocks together.

“Please,” Eren begged, “I need to--”

“Anything you want,” Levi said, voice low; it sounded like a promise. He looked down at Eren, eyes clouded with lust, and Eren believed he would give him anything. This time he was finally ready to ask.  

“Come here,” Eren said, pushing himself up so his head was higher on the pillow, and he tugged Levi forward so his knees were on either side of Eren’s shoulders, cock in front of Eren’s face. “I want you to…” Eren opened his mouth, hoping Levi would take the hint.  

Levi gave an exasperated sigh, but his body was flushed as he put his hands on Eren’s head and slid into his mouth, Eren moaning loudly around his cock. He’d wanted this for so long, used to imagine Levi giving it to him this way. He’d done this before, but never needed it like he did now. Eren ran his tongue along the underside of Levi’s length, eyes fluttering shut as he felt the pulse point.

He grabbed Levi’s ass and pulled him closer, showing him how he wanted to be filled, urging him to move. The feel of Levi sliding in and out of his lips, of the head of Levi’s cock bumping against the back of his throat, made Eren wild.

He fisted his own cock as Levi fucked his face with slow, deep thrusts. He wanted more, reached back up with his free hand to grab Levi’s ass again, make him go faster, deeper.

“Shit, Eren,” Levi groaned, his hands moving off Eren’s face to grip the headboard behind them, thrusting helplessly. Eren watched Levi above him, stomach muscles flexing as he rolled his hips. He swirled his tongue around Levi on the next thrust and hollowed his cheeks, satisfied as Levi pumped harder.

When Eren was too worked up, his cock aching for more, he pulled away, giving Levi’s dick a few more longing licks, then said, “I want you to fuck me.”

“That’s what I was just doing.” Levi looked wrecked.

His chest glistened with sweat, and Eren sat up and licked up from Levi’s navel to his pecs, feeling drunk off the taste of him. He’d been promised anything he wanted. “No...I mean, inside me.”

Levi moaned in response, cock jerking, still in Eren’s hand. “Okay,” he said, letting out a shaky breath as he regained his composure. “But in that case you need to let go of me.” He raised his eyebrows, amused, when Eren blushed.  

Eren pulled them both off the bed and onto the floor in front of the hearth, where the fire still crackled, the only sound in the room besides their ragged breaths. He arranged them so he was on his hands and knees with Levi behind him. He needed it to hurt a little, needed it to feel real, but he reached under the bed to retrieve the oil he’d brought with him.

Levi slicked up his fingers and took Eren apart. Wordless sobs and moans escaped Eren’s lips as he was worked open.

Levi’s voice was soft and knowing when he leaned forward and said, “You want me to fuck you like this Eren? Into the floor?”

Eren was so turned on he could barely speak. “Yes, Levi, please,” he managed, reaching back to clutch at Levi’s thigh. He was desperate; he’d needed this for so long. Tomorrow he would give Levi whatever it was that he needed because Eren had never loved anyone so much, never been more grateful to them in his life. It was night, but he felt like he was seeing the sun for the time in years.  

Levi removed his fingers to guide his dick inside. It was slow, too slow.

“Come on,” Eren hissed as Levi teased him, pushing in inch by inch. He tried to push back, eager to be filled. Threw his head back in pleasure once Levi finally slid all the way inside and bent forward to drag his teeth along Eren’s spine.

“Levi, please. _Please.”_

“Shit,” Levi moaned, and grabbed his hips, fingers pressing hard into the bones. A hint of things to come; Eren shuddered with anticipation.

Levi fucked him just like he needed--hard and rough and bruising--staking a claim on his body. Eren’s knees were sore, scraping against the floor as they moved, but it only made it better.

“Fuck, Levi. Harder, _”_ Eren cried, meeting each thrust. His cock was swollen in his hand as he stroked himself, so close. He just needed a little more. Levi kept one hand on Eren’s hip and slid the other up to grip his hair, pulling Eren's head back roughly. That sharp spike of pleasure-pain tipped Eren over the edge. “Oh god...yes, yes...like that!” he shouted as he came in hot white bursts all over the floor. Levi followed soon after, Eren’s name a ragged whisper on his lips.

 

 

 

They held each other that night, Levi stroking Eren’s hair.

“You didn’t mind that, did you?” Eren asked. He was almost certain Levi would have told him if Eren had pushed too far, but he felt selfish, grateful, and he wanted to make sure.

“I like you sucking my dick,” Levi said bluntly. “But I’d rather be gentle with you most of the time.”

 _Most of the time._ “That sounds good.” He smiled at Levi whose expression softened. “I’d like that next time.”

The fire was dying down now. Eren would have to get up in a minute to add more logs, but he didn’t want to move.

“When do you go back to Marley?” The question was inevitable. It had hung between them since the moment Levi arrived at his door. Here it was now with the power to reopen all the wounds that had only just begun to heal.

Levi didn’t hesitate. “In a couple weeks.” With one finger, he tilted Eren’s chin up so he would meet his eyes. “Eren, it’s been over a decade since I lived with anyone else. You know exactly how I am, more than anyone. If you want to, you can come with me. But if you’d really prefer to stay in this shithole, I’m not going to stop you.”

Eren imagined going with Levi to Marley. It was different than when he tried to picture a life back in Shiganshina or in the little house outside where the walls used to be. He had never been able to escape the sense of confinement, of feeling small. With Levi there was a new thrill, a sense of of endless possibility. He felt like he was soaring, the way he used to when he imagined a life without Titans, a life beyond the wall. Freedom. He could picture them together in a way he’d never been able to imagine a future before. A run together in the morning, cooking together in the evenings, Levi reminding him to keep the knives sharp, lying together like this. More than that, they could go anywhere they liked. Endless possibilities suddenly stretched out in front of Eren. Paths leading out in all directions, and he could walk any of them with Levi by his side.      

“I want to see the world with you, Levi.”

The silence stretched between them, and Eren’s heart sped up. Worrying he’d said the wrong thing, that it was a confusing answer to a simple question.

The reply came, soft and sure. “We can do that too.”    

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on  
> [Tumblr](https://omglevixeren.tumblr.com)  
> [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/omglevixeren/)  
> [Pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.io/ereri)  
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/omglevixeren)
> 
> Thank you to the usual suspects: [ Fluffymusketeer ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fluffymusketeer/pseuds/fluffymusketeer) and [ Sugarplumsenpai](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sugarplumsenpai/pseuds/sugarplumsenpai). You two make writing such a joy, thank you. (Btw, if you haven't read their work, I can't recommend it enough!) 
> 
> Comments/kudos/feedback are loved!


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